Wet Footprints in the Dirt
by Sparky The Tomboy
Summary: Sallie isn't all that pleased when her best friend Aradio drags her along to his stupid swim lessons. That is, until she notices her BFF making googily eyes at the teacher. Recruiting the resident shipping master to help, Sallie is setting out on a mission, along with Nellen, to set the two up. Rated T for cursing. Genderbent Humanstuck AU
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Sallie isn't all that pleased when her best friend Aradio drags her along to his stupid swim lessons. That is, until she notices her BFF making googily eyes at the teacher. Recruiting the resident shipping master to help, Sallie is setting out on a mission, along with Nellen, to set the two up.

Sallie grumbled from her position in the passenger seat of her best friend's jeep. Looking down at her cellphone, she mumbled a curse about everyone being really stupid and boring that day, before putting it away. Throwing her hands dramatically in the air, she let out a loud moan, earning a chuckle from the person driving.

"Must you be so dramatic?"

"Yeth, yeth I mutht," She spit, glaring at the 19 year old in the drivers seat, "I thtill don't thee why I have to come. I mean, it'th your thtupid thwim clath."

"Aw come on Sallie. You needed to get out of your dorm," Aradio said, chuckling again, hearing her say something about how she was better off in there, "You hadn't left your room since spring break started."

At this, the blond had to scoff. Of course she had left her room, after all, how could she have gotten food stuck in her dorm that whole time. But then she let out a sigh and a small smile crept onto her face. She knew Aradio meant well. He was only looking after her well being, knowing very well that she wasn't good at taking care of her self. Reaching over, she put her hand in hiss messy tangle of brown curls, tousling them a little and gaining a laugh, letting out a small one of her own.

"But thtill," she said, pulling her hand back and putting a disgruntled look on her face, "Thwim clath? It thure ath hell ithn't anything out of Romeo and Juliet."

"What are you talking about? Swimming pools are some of the most romantic things I know," he said, tapping the breaks lightly as the speed limit dropped, "Who knows. Maybe I'll get to rescue you from drowning and perform CPR." Sallie just scoffed at his dorky attempts to be charming.

"That only happenth in the movieth."

"Meh. Anyways, mainly I'm brining you with me, cause theres someone I want you to meet."

Sallie's interest was perked at this. Someone Aradio wanted her to meet? That sure as hell was something. Neither of them were exactly what you would call, social. She was a computer hacker/programmer who spent most of her time locked up in her room, working on codes or playing mine craft with her other nerdy friends. He was a total archeological nerd who had practically dedicated his entire being to anything having to do with Earth or anything that was dead. Actually, it was this reason that Sallie had been surprised that Aradio was even taking these swim classes. But, that's a story for another time.

"Oh, a perthon you'd like me to meet?" The disbelief was quite evident in her voice.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Surprising," he replied, glancing over at her with a goofy smile, "But he's a really nice guy, and I think you'll like him."

"Well, lookth like we're about to find out." Sallie replied as they pulled into the pools parking lot.


	2. Chapter 2

Aradio stopped the jeep and the two of them got out. Sallie looked at the place, and wasn't surprised to see that it was a pretty ramshackle kind of place. Considering that he was a Freshman college student and worked the night shift at the graveyard, she figured this was the best that Aradio could manage to afford.

"Hey 'Bee', you just gonna stand there or are you gonna come in?" Sallie scoffed and followed here friend up to the gate into the place.

A woman was sitting at a table by the gate. Long ginger hair with purple highlights, large purple eyes, perfectly manicured nails, and an outfit that looked like it cost more than Sallie's entire dorm room. The blond cringed at the girl who obviously would rather be anywhere but there, quite an obvious indication by the loud groan she let out.

"Ahem." She looked up at Aradio, and Sallie almost bitch slapped her right then and there for the disgusted look she gave him. "Hey Erinda. How are you?"

"Spare me the pleasantries Ara." She picked up a clipboard and handed it to him, "You know the drill by now."

As Aradio signed his name down, the girl, Erinda, finally seemed to notice Sallie. "Um, who are you?"

"Who wanth to know?"

Erinda quirked a waxed brow at her, and pushed her hipster glasses further up her face. The girl huffed and turned a pointed gaze at Aradio. "Huh?" He finally realized that he was expected to answer for Sallie, "Oh, this is my friend Sallie. I asked Ferris last week if it was okay for me to bring her."

Sallie smirked at her. The other girl just rolled her eyes and waved them in. Just as Aradio and Sallie were walking away from the table, somebody called out to them. "Hey! Sallie sis! Aradio bro!" The two turned around, and Sallie was a little surprised to see Gamzet wander up to them.

"Hey there Gamzet." Aradio said, smiling widely at the tall lanky girl, " Come to watch Tavrie again?"

"Sure am bro." The girl said in that spacy way the always did. Sallie didn't know how her best friend Karkie could stand her.

"Well Sallie's gonna be watching today as well. Maybe you two can keep each other company." The blond cringed a little at the idea, but decided it would probably be better than sitting in the sun heated bleachers, watching people swim and desperately willing someone to text her.

Gamzet agreed, honking a little, and wandered off over to another girl with dark skin who was taking her shoes off. Aradio started walking in the other direction, and Sallie followed, observing all the other people in the pool area as they walked. They walked over to the bleachers and Sallie sat down. Setting his bag down, Aradio proceeded to take off his shirt and sandals. Sallie felt kind bad every time she saw the terrible scars along his torso, the result of her own fault. A car crash, years ago. She wouldn't have felt so bad, he lived, and was fit as a fittle, except, he wasn't entirely. Sallie could never remember the details exactly, but what she did remember was the doctor saying how Aradio couldn't physically exert himself too much or he might injure his lungs or something. Either way, that immediately crushed his dreams of ever becoming a paleontologist. To be one, you had to physically exert yourself quite a lot. Even these swim lessons were pushing it, even though he had managed to convince her that you didn't exert yourself as much when you were in water. So, when he wasn't working at the graveyard at night, or at his once a week swim lessons, he tended to stay inside. Which, of course, had cause him to have quite pale skin and a very scrawny figure. Though he'd always been pretty skinny to begin with.

The blond girl smiled a little when he turned and gave her a dorky grin. His dreams may have been crushed, but that certainly hadn't dampened his spirit. Well, permanently anyways. But that was a story for another time.

"Aradio, hey!" Sallie looked over as another boy walked up. He was about 6'1, very muscular, tan, and dripping wet. All in all, he was pretty damn hot.

"Hi Ferris." She turned to Aradio, and was surprised to see the boy blushing. It wasn't very prominent, in fact, it almost wasn't there, but it was, and Sallie saw it. That's what made her begin to feel a little suspicious.

"You must be Sallie," Ferris held a hand out to her, and she was met with a big smile on his face, "It's nice to meet the girl Aradio never stops talking about."

Sallie laughed a little at this. "I'd say the feeling was mutual, but I don't believe Aradio has mentioned you before."

The tall boy quirked a brow, and the two of them simultaneously glanced at the other boy out of the corner of their eyes. HE seemed flustered as they did this.

Just as Ferris opened his mouth to speak, Aradio decided to take this moment to redeem himself. "Sallie, this is Ferris Peixes. He, uh, he's my swim teacher."


End file.
